


Stay

by Lucky107



Series: The Wanderer [13]
Category: Fallout 3
Genre: Best Friends, F/M, Friendship, Gen, Growing Up, Nostalgia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-07
Updated: 2018-02-07
Packaged: 2019-03-14 20:42:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13597989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lucky107/pseuds/Lucky107
Summary: The sun sets on the most unlikely of wasteland encounters.





	Stay

**Author's Note:**

> This was written in response to an ask on Tumblr, but I thought I might polish up the idea and share it here as a part of Cassidy's scrapbook. The prompt: _things you said in the spur of the moment._
> 
> Stay - Maurice Williams & the Zodiacs - 1960

The sun sets on the most unlikely of wasteland encounters.

"Butch DeLoria and Cassidy Bullion?" Marvels Susie Mack, mouth agape, as she gives her childhood acquaintances a once-over in the fading twilight. "I almost can't believe my eyes - it's the damn _Tunnel Snakes_."

"Well, you better believe it!" Butch says boisterously as he takes Susie into his arms. She looks so much older now, and a lot scrawnier, but she was also safe within the confines of Vault 101 the last time their paths crossed. "The hell are you doing topside, man?"

Cassidy returns Susie's handshake, a gesture far more pleasant than either of them anticipate.

"Amata's decided to open us up, once and for all," she explains with that age-old naivety. "I volunteered for what she calls 'diplomatic relations' - because of my G.O.A.T. score, right? - but it turns out I'm really just the grocery runner."

"How you—" But Cassidy becomes tongue-tied by Susie's green-eyed stare.

The last time that she and Susie had not been unpleasant, but it had definitely been indifferent. The only thing they had in common at that time was their support for Amata's claim to the title of Overseer. Now, however, Susie searches her face in wide-eyed anticipation.

It's as if somewhere in their separation Susie has made amends with their turbulent past - but how can almost twenty years of spite and pettiness be forgotten in only two?

That's when she remembers that Butch DeLoria has been standing faithfully by her side for those two long years and proven himself to be the only person in the wasteland that she can rely on to have her back.

As children, they _hated_ each other.

"How you been holding up?" Cassidy asks at last and her concern is met with a thin smile.

"Better than the two of you, by the looks of it."

One thing leads to another and a simple run-in with an old acquaintance turns into a night by firelight in the ruins of the Faded Pomp Estates.

"The wasteland is _so_ scary," Susie complains around a mouthful of Brahmin, and for all the weight of her words she still sounds as if she's got rocks where her brains should be. "How in the world do you do it, Cass? Making a life out of... well, out of _this_?"

Without missing a beat, Cassidy says, "I couldn't have done it alone."

"You—" Butch stammers, much to Susie's amusement. "—you _mean_ that?"

"I—"

So much has changed since those carefree days as school children within the safe confines of Vault 101, but sitting fireside with two of her favourite people in the whole wide world allows Susie to convince herself that nothing has really changed after all.

Even if it's just for one night.


End file.
